Radio Iowa

McCarthy's take on prevailing wage bill

In the closing minutes of IPTV's "Iowa Press" program last night, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines) offered this explanation for why it's been difficult to get the "prevailing wage" bill and other labor-related bills passed in the Iowa General Assembly.

I posed this question on the show: "You tried to get your colleagues to pass a prevailing wage bill which is law in five of the six surrounding states.  What is it about the Iowa culture that prevented you from doing that?"

This is McCarthy's answer:  "Again, there's still a possibility that we could pass that or other pieces of leigslation.  Iowa, I think, is pretty slow to change.  You know, we have the vast majority of this country moving in favor of smoke-free places.  We passed our bill in Iowa and the response here has been a lot more controversial than I would have guessed.  I think we're slow to change. 

"Unions in Iowa are not a huge presence in Iowa in terms of the work force. About 11 percent of the work force is unionized and I think we're slow to change.

An Iowan's impression of CPAC

The annual CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) is underway this weekend, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, broadcaster Rush Limbaugh and presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney as featured speakers.  According to news accounts, the 9000 Republicans from around the country who've gathered in DC for "CPAC" amount to the most ever to turn out for a CPAC convention.  Sandra "Sandy" Greiner, a Washington, Iowa, farmer who has served in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate, is a first-time conference-goer.

"This is really grassroots people," Greiner said Saturday during a telephone interview with Radio Iowa.  "These are people that are actively engaged at the grassroots and all the table conversations at meals are, 'How do we move our party agenda forward' and 'How do we get our voices heard?'  People would like their voices to be heard."  

A special session

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines) laid out a scenario yesterday whereby a skeleton crew of top legislators would stick around Des Moines to figure out the "strings" on the federal stimulus package money that's headed Iowa's way. Once the details are hammered out, the entire General Assembly would reassemble in Des Moines to direct the spending of that federal money.  McCarthy indicated there are two scenarios under consideration:  a special session or a break in the regular session that's currently underway with most legislators leaving Des Moines, then returning later to ratify the details of a budget deal worked out by legislative leaders.

"We don't have the answers yet on what's called 'maintenance of effort' or the purse strings that are going to be required," McCarthy said, during an appearance on IPTV's "Iowa Press" on Friday.  "Now, I'm hopeful that the federal government moves very fast and in an efficient fashion and we get all this money soon and we can figure out how we can make our budget work for Iowans better.  My fear is that it's going to take longer to get that done because of the bureacracy in the federal government and that may make our budget challenge here in Iowa that much greater, because we have to wait to figure exactly what requirements are placed on all this money."

Governor Culver and his staff believe the state will be getting $1.9 billion from the federal stimulus package over a period of three years. 

Here's McCarthy on the two scenarios mentioned in the first paragraph: "I think a couple of things are possibilities.  One would be that rank-and-file legislators go home and leadership and appropriations members stay and work through this maze of federal rules that are going to be coming down to deal with all this money and then when there's a deal, bring (rank-and-file legislators) back.  That's one option.  The other option is to pass a fairly lean budget and then come back in special (session) and fill certain areas once we figure out the maze of all these federal rules, so that's another option."

Governor on ICN sale: "We'll see."

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines) this morning suggested the state should explore the idea of selling or leasing the state-owned Iowa Communications Network.  This afternoon, Governor Chet Culver -- a fellow Democrat -- was asked his opinion.

Henderson/me:  "This morning Rep. McCarthy floated the idea of selling the Iowa Communications Network.  Do you think that's a good idea?"

Culver:  "I've had no discussions with the leader on that and maybe it'll come up at our leadership meeting next week.  First I've heard about it."

The Des Moines Register's Tony Leys:  "Do you think it's worth considering?"

Culver:  "I don't have enough information about it.  We'll see."

McCarthy not interested in running for congress

House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines) is the guest on this evening's IPTV program, "Iowa Press."  (He made news about the Iowa Communications Network during the show.) At the end of the "Iowa Press" program, I asked him about his political aspirations. 

Henderson:  "You are a full-time legislator and a full-time attorney.  What is your political future?"

McCarthy:  "I don't know.  I think about that sometimes of whether I should not have a political future (laugh), maybe go and try to make some money for my family for a change.  It's a lot different from what people (think). If you have got a private career and you serve as a citizen-legislator, it's a financial sacrifice in most cases both in time and in resources and that's why I admire a lot of my colleagues who are up here, volunteering their time, but I don't have any plans other than getting through this session." (Laughter)

A.P.'s Mike Glover:  "Let's get a little bit more specific, if we could.  The congressman who represents Des Moines and the central part of the state is getting up there. He's got some grey hairs in his head -- Leonard Boswell.  Have you ever given any thought to that seat?"

McCarthy:  "No."

Sell the Iowa Communications Network

Late yesterday, the Iowa House debated the idea of selling the state-owned fiber optic network known as the I.C.N. (Iowa Communications Network). The proposal was advanced by House Republicans, in the form of an amendment on an appropriations bill. The amendment failed on a 43 to 55, party-line vote, but here's the key quote during that debate, from a key Democrat:  "I think it's an important issue to talk about, as we should every other issue that may affect the state budget," said Rep. Jo Oldson, a Democrat from Des Moines who is chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee. "But I think it's a pretty complicated issue and it needs to be done in a pretty plan-full way."

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines) is the guest on this evening's IPTV program "Iowa Press" and McCarthy said it's time to start the discussion about selling or leasing the fiber optic network.

After the program, McCarthy spoke with other reporters who watched the show.  Rod Boshart of The Cedar Rapids Gazette noted that Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal in the past has said selling the network would yield the state 10-cents on the dollar in terms of the state investment.  "What's changed?" Boshart asked.

"I'm not sure anything's changed.  I think it's something worth exploring," McCarthy replied.  "It may not be a viable thing to do after some analysis, but I think we should move forward and have some analysis to see what the potential is there.  I know there's been some private industry that's been in my office that'd like to look at it, but I think it's worth exploring."

The bicycle bill

News was crammed into the last few hours of the day here at the statehouse, so I'm still drafting the news story about a bill which cleared the Iowa Senate late today.  The bill deals with rules of the road for bycyclists and motorists.  UPDATE:  click on this link to read the story.

During a news conference earlier in the day, Rod Boshart of The Cedar Rapids Gazette asked a question:  "Will the House have time to take up this bicycle bill if the senate sends it to you?"

"What bicycle bill?" House Speaker Pat Murphy (D-Dubuque) replied.

"I think you answered my question," Boshart said. 

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines) offered a coda of sorts, using humor.  "We might do it in tandem."  The room was filled with groans and the groaning was led by Murphy.

"On that one, I think we're done," Murphy said to conclude the news conference.

Mertz offers advice

The ears of every reporter perked up late this afternoon when Rep. Dolores Mertz asked for a few moments of speaking time on the House floor.  Mertz, as you may know, was one of five Democrats who voted "no" on the prevailing wage bill last Friday. Yesterday, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement filed an ethics complaint against her and asked the House Speaker to remove her as chair of the House Ag Committee. The speaker said no.

Today, the 80-year-old Mertz addressed none of thoes issues.  She used her speaking time to offer advice about Lent. "I always give up beer & sweets. Now this is painful for me, I want you to know," Mertz said, getting a laugh.  "I always tell my priest, 'It's not the 40 days that get to me.  It's the 40 nights.'" She got more laughter.

Nussle enters biofuels industry

An alert reader of The Blog sends along news of former Iowa Congressman/2006 Iowa GOP gubernatorial candidate/George W. Bush Administration OMB director Jim Nussle's latest move.

Former OMB Director Jim Nussle today signed on as a part-time senior adviser to Growth Energy Inc., a pro-ethanol lobbying group established by Jeff Broin, a builder and operator of ethanol plants. Nussle will work with outgoing National Farmers Union President Tom Buis, who will become Growth Energy's CEO on March 15. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark is co-chairman of the firm. 

Broin's ethanol company is now known as Poet (follow link above to company website), operating plants in the following Iowa towns: Ashton, Coon Rapids, Corning, Emmetsburg, Gowrie, Hanlontown and Jewell.

  

Four IA congressmen release statements tonight

Iowa has five congressmen and four of the five released statements in response to President Obama's speech this evening. First District Congressman Bruce Braley (D-Waterloo); Second District Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-Mt Vernon); Fourth District Congressman Tom Latham (R-Ames) and Fifth District Congressman Steve King (R-Kiron) each issued prepared statements for release as soon as the speech concluded. Third District Congressman Leonard Boswell (D-Des Moines) was the one who did not release a statement.  Read the other four below.